Album Notes

Dwight Ritcher is from New Jersey. This is the first thing he will probably tell you when you meet him. But in his own words, don't hold it against him. Dwight was born into a musical family. His Grandfather was the trombonist and conductor of "The Knights of Rhythm" a Swinging Big Band from the 1940's. It was Dwight's Grandfather that taught him to play boogie-woogie and stride style piano at an early age. No stranger to music herself, Dwight's mother can often be found plucking her gut stringed guitar or grooving to Albert King's "I'll Play the Blues for You."

With this background, Dwight quickly picked up the drums and honed his ability to rap whilst wearing huge shoelaces in various New Jersey parking lots. While living in Burlington Vermont, Dwight's ears were caught by a guitar player named Greg Paraskos. Dwight could see that if Greg's guitar playing was great, his singing was horrendous. He introduced himself as a singer and asked if he could sit in for a tune. Greg was impressed by his singing and even more surprised when he later heard Dwight play the piano. After a brief courtship period, they decided to form a band with Greg far away from the microphone. The original group featured Greg on guitar and Dwight playing a Fender Mark III Electric Piano, singing, and pounding a high hat with his left foot to keep the time. The driving baselines pumping from the Rhodes along with relentless rhythm guitar was enough to turn a room upside down. This unique combo turned heads around Vermont for a long time before relocating to Boston four years ago.

The band has gone through many changes. At some point about 5 years ago Dwight became the lead guitar player and front man of the group. Something undeniable about Dwight's guitar playing is that it will affect you. Listeners either can't get enough, or can't get away fast enough. It's often ragged and rough around the edges but it always says something, and in a way that is uniquely his own. I think he's the most expressive and original up and coming guitar player today. Listen carefully and I think you'll agree. Most recently Greg switched from his role as rhythm guitarist to that of bass player and claims with a sigh of relief, "I hate the guitar...this has been my real voice all along". He might be right because he seems to have a natural ability to propel the music with his interesting and often sparse baselines. People surprised to hear that Greg is no longer playing guitar immediately understand after hearing him play the bass. Recently joined by Warren Grant on Drums, and John and Scott Aruda on Saxophone and Trumpet the group went into the studio to record this album. The results speak for themselves. This one is not to be missed.